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Katherine Marlowe
|gender = Female |voice actor = Rosalind Ayres Mari Natsuki |motion capture = Rosalind Ayres }} Katherine "Kate" Marlowe was the English leader of an over 400-year old Hermetic Order. Ruthless and manipulative, Marlowe was also the leader of a highly-trained and well-armed group of agents who acted as her order's enforcers. Marlowe served as a central character and the main antagonist of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, competing with protagonists Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan towards finding the lost city, the Atlantis of the Sands. In addition, she also appears as a playable skin in the multiplayer modes of Drake's Deception and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In all of her appearances, Marlowe is voiced and mo-capped by Rosalind Ayres. Biography Uncharted 3: Drake Deception (2011) London Marlowe first appeared after Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan defeated her men in a bar room brawl in London, and were then cornered outside. After an ugly banter between the three, she forcibly took what she thought to be Francis Drake's ring, though it turned out later to be a fake. As she went to leave, Drake and Sully attempted to follow, but were seemingly shot and killed by Charlie Cutter, who was left behind as punishment. In a flashback to 20 years earlier, it was revealed that Marlowe commissioned Sully in Cartegena to steal the ring, along with the cipher disk it unlocked. However, a young Nathan Drake stole both before they could. He was cornered by Marlowe and her men, who took back the cipher disk; however, he escaped with the ring with the help of Sully, who thereafter takes him under his wing. Back in the present, Drake, Sully, Chloe Frazer, and Cutter — who was actually an old friend of Sully's and acted as a double agent — followed Marlowe's trail to her underground lair, where they retrieved the cipher disk, learned that she was looking for Iram of the Pillars — a quest previously undertaken by Sir Francis and T.E. Lawrence — and used the disk to search for clues to its location. They found two separate locations: a château in France and a citadel in Syria. Syria In Syria, they learned that Marlowe was head of a secret Hermetic organization dating back to Sir Francis' time which specialized in intimidation. While leaving the citadel, Cutter was confronted by Marlowe and Talbot, Marlowe's right-hand man. Angered by Cutter's treachery, Marlowe set the platform he stood on ablaze, which caused him to jump and break his leg. While this scared Cutter and Chloe into leaving the quest, Drake and Sully continued onto the next stop in the quest: Yemen. Yemen Soon after arriving, Drake was drugged and captured by Talbot. Whilst drugged, Marlowe was able to pry much information from him, including the fact that Sullivan had memorized the constellation she needed to locate the Atlantis of the Sands but not what she truly needed, the current location of Victor Sullivan. Once Drake awakened, Marlowe toyed with him, speaking of his mother's suicide, how he subsequently ended up in an orphanage, and even that fact that Drake wasn't his real name. She pressed him for Sullivan‘s whereabouts, threatening Elena Fisher in the process and claiming Sullivan only cared for himself and no one else. Allowing Drake to think about what she said, Marlowe was informed by Talbot that they had located Sullivan. Talbot took his leave as Marlowe broke the news to Drake that he has been "removed from the equation." Temporarily escaping, Drake took off after Talbot but was soon knocked unconscious by Rameses, a pirate captain Marlowe had hired. As she now had Sullivan, she instructed Rameses to kill Drake. Believing Drake to be dead, Marlowe set off in a convoy across the Rub' al Khali toward Iram, but soon learned that not only was Drake alive, he had also destroyed her supply plane. Leaving some of her men behind at the ghost town, Drake once again escaped, and with the aid of Salim, eliminated most of her convoy to save Sullivan. Through all of the destruction however, Marlowe made it to her destination. Iram of the Pillars and Death Once Drake and Sullivan arrived at the lost city of Iram, Sullivan was seemingly shot dead by Talbot with Marlowe at his side. However, it was later revealed that this was a hallucination caused by Drake's inadvertent consumption of the true treasure of Iram and Marlowe's goal: a powerful hallucinogenic agent hidden in the city's water supply. As Marlowe is on the verge of retrieving the urn containing the agent, Drake shot the winch lifting it. The ensuing explosions cause serious structural damage to the city, causing the city to fall apart around them. As she made her way out with Talbot, they ran into Drake and Sullivan, but before the inevitable confrontation could occur, the floor collapsed beneath them, throwing Marlowe, Talbot, and Drake into the quicksand below. Drake and Talbot were able to get onto solid ground, but Marlowe was unable to free herself. As Talbot pleaded with Drake to save her, Marlowe persuaded Drake to earn his name by saving her, holding out Sir Francis' ring. After much hesitation, Drake threw her his bandoleer to grab onto, but she failed to get a decent grip and sunk to her death, taking the ring with her. Multiplayer ''Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' Marlowe appears as a multiplayer skin in Uncharted 3. To unlock her, you must reach level 20 on multiplayer. You can also play as young Katherine Marlowe but to unlock her, you must reach level 65. ''Uncharted 4: A Thief's End'' Katherine Marlowe returns in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End multiplayer. She is unlocked through Vanity Chests, and is on the villains side. Her voice actor Rosalind Ayres has also returned. Character design Personality Marlowe was a much more cerebral enemy than Drake had confronted in the past, using both psychological and physical tactics to get what she was after. She treated her subordinates with slight disdain, as she demeaned Talbot for hiring Charlie Cutter, a traitor. Sophisticated and manipulative, she was a coolly calculating woman who didn't shy away from torture, physical or otherwise. She, being cruel and vindictive, would take any opportunity to belittle Drake and anyone else who got in her way, as well as take violent action. Developer comments Marlowe is played by Rosalind Ayres. In an interview, lead game designer Richard Lemarchand said, "We are extremely lucky to be working with her. "She has brought a tremendous amount to this character. At Naughty Dog, we feel that a big part of the success of the Uncharted games is due to the effort that we put into our performance capture process where we work with the actors, improvising scenes with them and very often some of the best lines come straight from the actors, the things they invent while we are rehearsing with them and Ros has been fantastic in helping us in developing Marlowe's character." Trivia * The name Katherine is from the Greek Aikaterine. The etymology is debated, but is mostly associated with the Greek katharos, meaning "pure."Behind the Name: Meaning, origin and history of the name Katherine Behind the name. Retrieved July 9, 2016. * The surname Marlowe is a locational name from the town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, roughly meaning "lake remnants."Surname Database: Marlowe Last Name Origin The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved July 9, 2016. * She is the first female major antagonist introduced in the Uncharted series. * She is chronologically the first villain in the series Nate encountered. * Sully calls her Kate during the cutscene she first appears in. * She is shown to be a believer in and reader of tarot cards, as before attempting to kill Charlie on top of the tower she says "As if it were in the cards all along", referring to his betrayal of her. He is then found to have a tarot card in his pocket called "The Tower", which represents crisis, downfall, ruin, etc. ** In addition, Cutter's notebook (and via gameplay mechanics Drake's journal) contains pictures of two tarot cards: "The High Priestess", with Marlowe's name written under it, and "The Magician", with Talbot's name written above it. High Priestess symbolizes hidden knowledge or other untapped powers, wisdom, female mystery, and patience. ** Her use of the cards ties in with the hermetic/occultic nature of her organization. * Marlowe shares her last name with famous playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was also a spy for Queen Elizabeth. * Marlowe is far-sighted; she puts on reading glasses when she is reading Nathan Drake's file. * There was much Internet speculation that the famous English actress Helen Mirren would be playing the role of Marlowe based on their similarities in appearance and voice. However, this was not the case. It is plausible, however, that she was an inspiration for the game's developers, Naughty Dog. * Contrary to popular belief, it's actually Marlowe that drives their getaway car after she makes her appearance in the game (a Jaguar XJ, which is seen outside the Pelican Inn and parked in the London Underground). Talbot clearly gets out of the passenger's side of the car (the left side), while Marlowe gets out of the right side (in the U.K., the right side is the driver's side of the vehicle). It appears that Talbot gets into the car first and starts the ignition so that Marlowe may drive (so it is she, not Talbot, that nearly runs Cutter over). When the player finds Marlowe's vehicle later on in the Underground, these facts can be confirmed. * Drake jokes that Marlowe may melt in the rain without her umbrella, like a witch. The manner in which she sinks in the quicksand could be reminiscent of a person melting. * Marlowe was significantly older looking in earlier versions, with more wrinkles on her neck and face than the finalized design. *Some people speculate that Marlowe is actually Queen Elizabeth. One quote that can "point" at that is -After 400 years of research, Drake´s secret will finally be revealed- when she wants to use the decoder for the first time. Gallery Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Avatar Katherine Marlowe avatar in U3.png Singleplayer Stills 9452katherine_marlowe_render.jpg|An early render of Marlowe. Youngmarlowe.jpg|A younger Katherine Marlowe Umbrella.png Talbot png.png char_54536.jpg Multiplayer Icons Katherine Marlowe multiplayer card.png|Katherine Marlowe multiplayer card Young Marlowe multiplayer card.png|Marlowe (Young Marlowe skin) multiplayer card Suited Marlowe multiplayer card.png|Marlowe (Suited Marlowe skin) multiplayer card Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Avatar Katherine Marlowe avatar in U4.png References Category:Skins in Drake's Deception Category:Skins in A Thief's End Category:Characters in Drake's Deception